Raising or napping machine



March 27, 1962 J- KUPPERS ETAL 3,026,596

RAISING 0R NAPPING MACHINE Filed Oct. 8, 195'? 3,026,596 Patented Mar.27, 1962 hce 3,026,596 RAISING OR NAPPING MACHINE Josef Kappers andAlfred Schultheiss, Manchen-Giadbach, Germany, assignors to Firma FranzMuller, Mencken-Gladbach, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Oct.8, 1957, Ser. No. 688,999 Claims priority, application Germany Nov. 15,1956 1 Claim. (Cl. 26-35) The present invention relates to a raising ornapping machine.

In order to achieve a good raising eifect in napping machines, a correctadjustment of the number of revolutions for the raising rollers is ofgreatest importance.

It is customary to drive the raising rollers with a constant number ofrevolutions in the known raising or napping machines, while the speed ofthe cloth is variable. lt is of importance herein that at each speed ofthe cloth the neutral number of revolutions for the raising rollers isexactly known or is announced, it being understood that the neutralnumber of revolutions is the speed at which the raising rollers pass thecloth at a predetermined speed of the cloth without, however, performingany work. Any work and a raising eiiect of the raising rollers sets inonly then, when, for instance, in the machine the number of revolutionsof the pile rollers is smaller and that of the counter-pile rollers islarger than the neutral number of revolutions. The greater thediiference between the number of revolutions of the raising rollers andthe neutral number of revolutions, the greater is also the raisingeifect. Since, however, a practical raising effect moves within narrowlimits, it is possible to use for the adjustment of the number ofrevolutions of the raising rollers a control device having a smallcontrol range, if the neutral number of revolutions would be constantfor all speeds of the cloth. This is, however, impossible for the reasonthat the neutral number of revolutions of the raising rollers changeswith each change of speed of the cloth.

It is, thus, found, that upon increase of the speed of the cloth theelect of the pile rollers is diminished and the effect of thecounter-pile rollers is increased, which requires an after-adjustment,in order to bring about again the same raising effect. In order topermit an exact and careful adjustment, indicating scales withcorresponding correction is by all means required. An attempt has beenmade already, to control automatically the adjustment of the number ofrevolutions of the raising rollers by means of proper gear drivesdependent upon the cloth speed, which expedient requires, however,rather complicated drive units. With all past attempts, the drawbackremains, however, that a much too large control range of the controldevice is required, which turned out to be unfavorable, since thequality of the napped cloth depends substantially upon the small-stepcontrol, that means, the smaller the control range of a drive, the iinerthe control which is possible and the better is the napped cloth.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide araising or napping machine which overcomes the drawbacks of previouslyknown machines.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a raising ornapping machine, wherein the drum is driven by a control device havingstepwise or endless speed control, whereby with each change of thenumber of revolutions of the drum, the speed of the cloth changessimultaneously in proper relation thereto. Upon changing the speed ofthe cloth, the basic number of revolutions of the raising rollerschanges likewise in the same proportion, so that an additionaladjustment of the neutral number of revolutions is no longer required.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a raisingor napping machine, wherein the control ranges of the control devicesfor the pile rollers and for the counter-pile rollers are held extremelysmall, whereby a very line adjustment of the raising effect is madepossible. This adjustment remains unchanged, even it' the speed of thecloth changes.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent in thefollowing detailed description, the present invention will be clearlyunderstood in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic cross-section of a raising or napping machinewith a drum having pileand counterpile rollers; and i FIG. 2 is a topplan view thereof, together with a schematically shown drive.

Referring now to the drawing, the present machine comprises a drum 10which is driven by a motor 11 over a control drive l2, 13 with acorresponding control range, the adjustment of which may be achieved bymeans of a manually operated wheel 14. A PIV-drive, an oil drive or thelike may be used for the control drive 12, 13.

The drive of the feeding rollers 15, 16 for the fabric or clothoriginateswith the axle of the drum 10 over a drive 17, 18 and 19, sothat the speed of the fabric changes with each change of the number ofrevolutions of the drum l0. The tine differentiation of the number ofrevolutions between the rollers 15 and 16 is not shown in the drawing,because the present invention is not concerned with this matter.

A small gear or spur gear 20 is likewise driven by the axle of the drum10 over a control drive 21, 22, which small gear 20 meshes with a largegear or ring gear 23 which is rotatably mounted on the bearing neck ofthe drum 10. This constitutes the drive for the pile rollers. The wedgebelts which circularly surround the napping rollers 24, 25 are securedto the gears 23 in known manner by belt-tensioners, which wedge beltssupply the required additional number of revolutions to the pile andcounter-pile rollers 24, 25, respectively, due to the opposite directionof turning by the large gears 23. This is brought about for thecounter-pile rollers 25 by means of a control drive 26, 27.

The raising energy once set by the hand wheels 28, 29 for the drives 21,22 and 26, 27 remains the same for both sets of rollers even upon changeof the speed of the fabric, so that the known complicated and expensiveindicating or balancing devices are eliminated. The set raising energyis rather visible on scales of the hand wheels 28 and 29.

As set forth above, the shown and described embodiment is merely anexample for the application of the present invention and is not limitedthereto, rather several other embodiments and applications are possibleWithin the scope of the present invention.

While we have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, it isto be understood that this embodiment is given by example only and notin a limiting sense, the scope of the present invention being determinedby the objects and the claim.

We claim;

In a napping machine,

a main shaft,

a drum mounted on said shaft and rotatable therewith,

a plurality of pile rollers and a plurality of counter-pile rollersbeing alternately disposed on said drum and rotating by a planet motionwith the latter,

a pair of cloth feeding rollers disposed adjacent said drum,

means for driving said drum with adjustable speed,

means for driving said cloth feeding rollers, said pile rollers and saidcounter-pile rollers from said main shaft permitting a change of thespeed of said cloth feeding rollers, of said pile rollers and of saidcounterpile rollers at the same ratio at which the speed of said mainshaft is changed,

a first control means for adjusting the speed of said pile rollers and asecond control means for adjusting the speed of said counter-pilerollers,

each said control means driving its respective rollers through a ringgear provided therefor and rotatably mounted on said main shaft, and

each ring gear engaging a spur gear driven from a corresponding one ofsaid control means, whereby the napping etect may be adjusted.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSScholaert June 14, Dourdeville Mar. 27,

FOREIGN PATENTS France Apr. 13, France Apr. 4, Great Britain GreatBritain Great Britain Great Britain Sept. 24, Great Britain Sept. 2,Great Britain June 6.

